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arms transfers
Biden Admin Hasn't Acted on 500 Reports of Israel Attacking Gaza Civilians With US Arms
One expert said the Biden administration is "ignoring evidence of widespread civilian harm and atrocities to maintain a policy of virtually unconditional weapons transfers to the Netanyahu government."
Oct 30, 2024
The Biden administration has reportedly received around 500 notices from international humanitarian groups, nonprofit organizations, and eyewitnesses alleging that the Israeli military has used American weaponry in attacks that harmed civilians in the Gaza Strip, likely in violation of both U.S. and international law.
But the administration, which has armed Israel's military to the hilt since the Hamas-led attack of last year, "has failed to comply with its own policies requiring swift investigations of such claims," according to The Washington Post, which first reported the nearly 500 notices on Wednesday.
Dozens of the reports delivered to the U.S. State Department over the past year "include photo documentation of U.S.-made bomb fragments at sites where scores of children were killed," the Post noted, citing unnamed human rights advocates who were briefed on the process.
"Yet despite the State Department’s internal Civilian Harm Incident Response Guidance, which directs officials to complete an investigation and recommend action within two months of launching an inquiry, no single case has reached the 'action' stage," the newspaper reported, citing unnamed current and former officials. "More than two-thirds of cases remain unresolved... with many pending response from the Israeli government, which the State Department consults to verify each case's circumstances."
"When it comes to the Biden administration's arms policies, everything looks good on paper but has turned out meaningless in practice when it comes to Israel."
John Ramming Chappell, a legal and policy adviser at the Center for Civilians in Conflict, told the Post that Biden administration officials are "ignoring evidence of widespread civilian harm and atrocities to maintain a policy of virtually unconditional weapons transfers to the Netanyahu government."
"When it comes to the Biden administration's arms policies," Chappell added, "everything looks good on paper but has turned out meaningless in practice when it comes to Israel."
William Hartung, a senior research fellow and arms industry expert at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, told the Post that "it's almost impossible" that Israel isn't violating U.S. law "given the level of slaughter that's going on, and the preponderance of U.S. weapons."
Since last October, the U.S. has delivered more than 50,000 tons of weaponry to Israel, a flow of arms that has continued amid overwhelming evidence that the Israeli military has used American weapons to commit grave violations of international law.
In April, as Common Dreamsreported at the time, Amnesty International USA sent a research brief to the Biden administration detailing several cases in which the Israeli military violated international humanitarian law with U.S. weapons, including a pair of deadly strikes last year on homes full of civilians—attacks that killed 19 children.
On Tuesday, the Israeli military bombed a five-story residential building in northern Gaza, killing around two dozen children and scores of adults.
Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, told reporters Tuesday that the Biden administration is "deeply concerned by the loss of civilian life in this incident" and has "reached out to the government of Israel to ask what has happened here."
Later in the same briefing, reporters pressed Miller on actions the Biden administration is taking to push Israel to stop impeding shipments of humanitarian assistance to Gaza. It's been just over two weeks since the Biden administration sent a letter to the Israeli government threatening to cut off U.S. military assistance if the humanitarian situation in Gaza doesn't improve within 30 days.
"Obviously, the 30 days isn't up," Drop Site's Ryan Grim noted during Tuesday's press briefing. "But two weeks ago the situation in northern Gaza was bad; like, today it's utterly dystopian. The opposite of making progress has happened there."
Miller responded that "we have made clear that the situation in northern Gaza... needs to change."
Nevertheless, Miller insisted to reporters that the U.S. State Department has "not assessed [Israel] to be in violation of the law at this point," a statement that contradicts the findings of both internal department experts and outside analysts.
"All the laws and policies that are supposed to prevent U.S. weapons from being used to commit atrocities by foreign countries are being completely ignored by the Biden admin in its rush to continue unimpeded weapons flows to Israel to commit genocide," Josh Ruebner, policy director at the IMEU Policy Project, wrote Wednesday.
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The Atrocities by Israel Against the People of Gaza Must End
And the U.S. government must end its support for Netanyahu’s war—not another nickel to make this horrific situation even worse.
Jul 12, 2024
CD Editor's Note: The following is a statement released by Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday, July 12, 2024:
While much of the media is focused on the drama of the U.S. presidential election, we must not lose sight of what is happening in Gaza, where an unprecedented humanitarian crisis continues to get even worse.
Nine months into this war, more than 38,000 people have been killed and 88,000 injured – 60 percent of whom are women, children, or elderly. The full toll is likely higher, with thousands more buried beneath the rubble.
Nine in ten Gazans—1.9—have been driven from their homes. Many people have been displaced four or five times, and most do not have homes to return to, with more than 60 percent of residential buildings damaged or destroyed.
The Israeli government has ignored international law and made life unlivable in Gaza. That is why Netanyahu faces possible indictment by the International Criminal Court for his actions.
Israel continues to restrict the entry of UN humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza, prevent the entry of key humanitarian items, and obstruct aid workers’ access to many areas. These restrictions have prevented aid organizations from setting up a sustained, effective response.
The results are catastrophic.
Unbelievably, one in four Gazans face starvation, some 495,000 people. The World Food Programme was forced to reduce rations in June, and many people receive only flour. Many people, including children, are sifting through the rubble for food, and boiling leaves for sustenance.
In searing heat, clean water is in short supply. Some 67 percent of water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed. Children spend many hours each day searching for food or water, picking their way through mountains of garbage or down streets that run with sewage.
These conditions have spread dangerous diseases like hepatitis and diarrhea, yet most hospitals and health clinics have been destroyed by the bombardment, and some 500 health care workers killed.
Hamas started this war with the horrific terrorist attack on October 7th, which killed 1,200 innocent Israelis and took hundreds of hostages. Israel had a right to respond. But Netanyahu’s extreme right-wing government has waged total war against the entire Palestinian people, without distinction. The Israeli government has ignored international law and made life unlivable in Gaza. That is why Netanyahu faces possible indictment by the International Criminal Court for his actions.
Yet, in the midst of this horror and violations of international law, the United States continues to send billions of dollars and thousands of bombs and other weapons to support this war. We, as Americans, are complicit.
We must end our support for Netanyahu’s war. Not another nickel to make this horrific situation even worse. I intend to do everything I can to block further arms transfers to Israel, including through joint resolutions of disapproval of any arms sales. The United States must not help a right-wing extremist and war criminal continue this atrocity.
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Progressives Push Back as Biden Admin Works to Bypass Oversight of Israel Arms Transfers
"The Biden administration should provide the same transparency around arms transfers to Israel that it has for Ukraine and other countries," said Rep. Cori Bush.
Nov 10, 2023
Democratic U.S. lawmakers, including prominent progressives, are pushing back against an attempt by the Biden administration to circumvent congressional oversight of arms transfers to Israel, which has received an unspecified quantity of American weaponry since the October 7 Hamas-led attack.
Members of the watchdog group Women for Weapons Trade Transparency (WWTT) reported last week that the White House's October 20 supplemental funding request "sought permission to unilaterally blanket-approve the future sale of military equipment and weapons—like ballistic missiles and artillery ammunition—to Israel without notifying Congress."
The waiver would apply to the $3.5 billion earmarked in the request for Foreign Military Financing (FMF) for Israel. As the WWTT members explained in In These Times: "This means the Israeli government would be able to purchase up to $3.5 billion in military articles and services in complete secrecy. The House included the waiver language in a bill that splits off Israeli military aid from the rest of the package."
Josh Paul, a former senior State Department official who resigned in protest last month over the Biden administration's decision to rush weapons to Israel, called the proposal "an insult to congressional oversight prerogatives."
"I've never seen anything like it," Paul told the WWTT members.
The White House's waiver request has drawn backlash from congressional Democrats, including some lawmakers who support arming Israel as it carries out massive atrocities in the Gaza Strip and faces growing accusations of genocide.
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, toldThe Washington Post on Thursday that he opposes "the administration's request to write into law waivers of congressional notification of foreign military financing, including for Israel."
"There is no reason we cannot both ensure needed U.S. assistance is provided to Israel in an expeditious manner and ensure Congress is able to fulfill its constitutional oversight duty," said Meeks.
Progressive critics of the administration's unconditional support for the Israeli government have also spoken out against the White House's attempt to evade congressional oversight of military assistance.
"At a time when thousands of civilians are being killed by weapons provided by the U.S. government, the American people deserve to be fully informed about what is being provided to other countries, including Israel, with their tax dollars," Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), the lead sponsor of a cease-fire resolution in the House, told the Post. "The Biden administration should provide the same transparency around arms transfers to Israel that it has for Ukraine and other countries."
As The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein reported earlier this week, the administration has done nothing of the kind.
"Whereas the Biden administration released a three-page itemized list of weapons provided to Ukraine, down to the exact number of rounds, the information released about weapons sent to Israel could fit in a single sentence," Klippenstein wrote.
Israel is the top beneficiary of U.S. weaponry and military aid, receiving nearly $4 billion a year under a deal inked during the Obama presidency.
In the wake of Hamas' October 7 attack, the U.S. quickly moved to transfer small-diameter bombs, Iron Dome interceptor missiles, and other munitions to the Israeli military.
On October 31, the State Department approved a $320 million sale of guided bomb equipment to Israel, despite a directive barring U.S. arms sales to countries that are "more likely than not" to use the weapons to attack civilians.
The Biden administration has admitted to being intentionally vague in divulging the exact quantity of weapons it has sent Israel over the past month.
John Kirby, a spokesperson for the National Security Council, told reporters on October 23 that U.S. military assistance is flowing to Israel "on a near-daily basis" and that the administration is "being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what they're getting—for their own operational security purposes, of course."
But experts toldThe Intercept that the administration's stated justification for shrouding the arms transfers in secrecy is bogus.
"The notion that it would in any way harm the Israeli military's operational security to provide more information is a cover story for efforts to reduce information on the types of weapons being supplied to Israel and how they are being used," said William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft who focuses on the arms industry.
"I think the purposeful lack of transparency over what weapons the U.S. is supplying to Israel 'on a daily basis' is tied to the larger administration policy of downplaying the extent to which Israel will use those weapons to commit war crimes and kill civilians in Gaza," Hartung added.
U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), deputy chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, told the Post on Thursday that the administration's refusal to be forthright about new arms transfers to Israel is unacceptable.
"This is particularly concerning, given the wanton killing of civilians, and constant reports of war crimes and human rights abuses, likely using U.S. weapons," said Omar.
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